Kalbajar

There are several theories about the origin of the town's name.

According to Armenian sources, the name Kalbajar is a modified form of {{transliteration|hy|K’aravachar’}}/{{transliteration|hy|K’arvachar’}} ({{lang|hy|Քարավաճառ}}).{{Cite book |last1=Hakobyan |first1=Tʻ. Kh. |title=Hayastani ev harakitsʻ shrjanneri teghanunneri baṛaran |last2=Melikʻ-Bakhshyan |first2=St. T. |last3=Barseghyan |first3=H. Kh. |publisher=Yerevan State University Publishing House |year=2001 |volume=5 |pages=340 |language=hy |script-title=hy:Հայաստանի և հարակից շրջանների տեղանունների բառարան |trans-title=Dictionary of Toponymy of Armenia and Adjacent Territories |chapter=Kʻelbajar |script-chapter=hy:Քելբաջար |chapter-url=http://www.nayiri.com/imagedDictionaryBrowser.jsp?dictionaryId=61&dt=HY_HY&pageNumber=4238 |script-quote=hy:Ք[ելբաջար] անունն առաջացել է օտարների կողմից Մեծ Հայքի Արցախի աշխ[արհ]ի Ծար գավ[առ]ում գտնվող Քարավաճառ գ[յուղ]ի անվան աղավաղումից[…] Համապատասխանում էր 15-րդ դ[արի] հիշատակարաններից մեկում վկայված Քարավաճառ գ[յուղ]ին, որը հետագայում կոչվել է Հանդաբերդ։ |trans-quote=The name of Kelbajar derives from corruption by foreigners of the name of the village of Karavachar of the Tsar canton of the Artsakh province of Greater Armenia[…] It corresponded to the village of Karavachar mentioned in a 15th-century colophon, which was later called Handaberd.}} The Armenian name is popularly interpreted as meaning "a place for selling rocks", as if consisting of the elements {{transliteration|hy|k’ar}} ('rock') and {{transliteration|hy|vachar’}} ('sale, selling'). Other possible etymologies consider {{transliteration|hy|k’ar}} to mean 'fortress' in this case or to be a prefix meaning settlement found in the names of some ancient Near Eastern cities.

According to Azerbaijani sources, the name evolved from Kevlicher, meaning 'fortress in the upper reaches of the rivers' (kevli – 'the upper reaches of the river,' cher/jar – 'fortress') in Old Turkic. According to another version, the name of the town comes from the combination of the Persian word {{transliteration|fa|kevil}} ('cave') and the Turkic word jer ("rock, ravine") and means 'ravine with caves'. Another version proposes that the name comes from the Turkic words kevli ('river mouths') and jar ("gorge, ravine"), and that the settlement was called Keblajar before purportedly morphing to Kalbajar.{{cite book |url=http://anl.az/el/Kitab/252514.pdf |title=Azərbaycan toponimlərinin ensiklopedik lüğəti |publisher=Şərq-Qərb |others=Nəsimi adına Dilçilik İnstitutu |year=2007 |isbn=978-9952-34-155-3 |editor-last=Əliyeva |editor-first=Rübabə |volume=I |location=Bakı |page=272 |language=az |author1-link=Institute of Linguistics named after Nasimi |access-date=30 July 2023}}

In ancient times, the territory where modern-day Kalbajar is located was part of the county ({{Transliteration|xcl|gavar’}}) of Tsar of the Artsakh province within the Kingdom of Armenia. Archaeological evidence uncovered in 1924 by Soviet archaeologist and scholar of the Caucasus Yevgenia Pchelina attests to the existence of an Armenian settlement in the area during the Middle Ages.{{cite journal |last=Pchelina |first=Evgenia |author-link=:ru:Пчелина, Евгения Георгиевна |year=1932 |title=Po Kurdistanskomu uezdu Azerbaĭdzhana (putevye zametki) |script-title=ru:По Курдистанскому уезду Азербайджана (путевые заметки) |trans-title=About the Kurdistan district of Azerbaijan (travel notes) |journal=Sovetskaia Etnografia |language=ru |location=People's Commissariat of Education |publisher=Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR |issue=4 |pages=109–110 |oclc=424176829}}

File:Karvachar013.JPG inscription found in the village|left|227x227px]]

The settlement is mentioned by Armenian sources in the 15th century as the village of {{transliteration|hy|K’aravachar’}} (17th-century and later Armenian sources spell it {{transliteration|hy|K’arvachar’}}).{{cite book|last=Khachikyan|first=L. S.|url=http://serials.flib.sci.am/openreader/nyut_hay_jogh_patm_6/book/index.html#page/6/mode/2up|title=ZhE dari hayeren dzeṛagreri hishatakaranner, Masn A|trans-title=Colophons of 15th-century Armenian manuscripts, part I|date=1955|publisher=Armenian SSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House|page=24|language=hy}} It is first mentioned in the colophon of an Armenian manuscript dated to 1402:

{{Blockquote|text=… in the archdiocese of this province of Father Zakaria, abbot of Dadivank, in the famous region of Tsar, in the village of Karavachar …}}

According to Armenian historian Samvel Karapetyan, its population likely consisted of Armenians until the 1730s.{{Cite book |last=Karapetyan |first=Samvel |url=https://raa-am.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/ARMENIAN-CULTURAL-MONUMENTS-IN-THE-REGION-OFKARABAKH.pdf |title=Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh |date=2001 |publisher="Gitutiun" Publishing House of NAS RA |isbn=9785808004689 |location=Yerevan |pages=46–49 |author-link=Samvel Karapetyan (author)}} In the mid-18th century, Kalbajar was again incorporated into the province of Khachen as a part of the newly-formed Karabakh Khanate.{{cite book|last= Bournoutian|first= George|author-link= George Bournoutian|title= Two Chronicles on the History of Karabagh: Mirza Jamal Javanshir's Tarikh-e Karabagh and Mirza Adigözal Beg's Karabagh-name|year= 2004|location= Costa Mesa, California|publisher= Mazda Publishers|page= 263|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Bu1oAAAAMAAJ&q=Kalbajar+Khachen|isbn= 9781568591797}} In the mid-19th century, the area was settled by Kurds, and the settlement's name was distorted from Kar(a)vachar to Kyarvajar or Kyalbajar. Kurdish folk tales from the region, recorded by Pchelina, speak of the arrival of the Kurds in the region and the subsequent displacement of the historical Armenian population.

In 1930, the Kalbajar region with an area of {{cvt|1936|km2}} was formed as part of the Azerbaijan SSR, the administrative centre of was the town of Kalbajar, which received the status of a city in 1980.{{cite encyclopedia |title=Кельбаджар |encyclopedia=Большой энциклопедический словарь }}

{{main|Kurdistansky Uyezd}}

The city was part of the Kurdistansky Uyezd (later called the Kurdistan Okrug) of the Azerbaijani SSR from 7 July 1923 to 23 July 1930. To its Kurdish population, it was known as {{Transliteration|ku|Kevn Bajar}}.{{Cite web |last=Yalin |first=Ihsan |date=5 April 2016 |title=Dağlık Karabağ – Kürt'ün evine turist olarak bile gidemediği yer... |url=https://www.rudaw.net/turkish/interview/050420161 |access-date=25 April 2021 |website=Rudaw.net |language=tr}}

{{main|Battle of Kalbajar}}

File:Azerbaijani refugees from Kalbajar 2.jpg

The city was seized by Armenian forces on 2 April 1993 during the Battle of Kalbajar, near the end of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War and all of its Azerbaijani inhabitants were forced out.{{cite web |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3b00f15764.html |title=Resolution 822 (1993) adopted by the United Nations' Security Council at its 3205th meeting |date=April 30, 1993 |publisher=UNHCR Refworld |access-date=22 February 2011 |quote=Noting with alarm the escalation in armed hostilities and, in particular, the latest invasion of the Kelbadjar District of the Republic of Azerbaijan by local Armenian forces}} Civilians reported being forced to flee through mountains still covered in snow, resulting in hundreds freezing to death.{{cite web |url=http://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/WR94/Helsinki-03.htm |title=Nagorno Karabakh |date=1994 |publisher=Human Rights Watch |access-date=25 March 2020 |quote=The towns' capture came at staggering human costs, creating 250,000 new Azerbaijani refugees. Civilians fled Kelbajar in April through high mountains still covered with snow. Refugees claimed that hundreds of people froze to death attempting to flee.}}

Human Rights Watch findings concluded that during the Kalbajar offensive Armenian forces committed numerous violations of the rules of war, including forcible exodus of civilian population, indiscriminate fire and hostage-taking.{{cite web |url=https://undocs.org/S/RES/822(1993) |title=Resolution 822 (1993) |author= |date=30 April 1993 |website=undocs.org |publisher=United Nations Security Council }} In April 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 822 which called for the withdrawal of all occupying forces from the Kalbajar district, including the town of Kalbajar.

Following the war, the city and surrounding territory were absorbed into the breakaway Republic of Artsakh becoming the centre of its Shahumyan Province and was renamed {{transliteration|hy|K’arvachar’}}. Starting in the early 2000s, the city was slowly repopulated by ethnic Armenians from the eastern areas of Shahumyan and Gulistan; they had fled during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War after they had been forcefully expelled by Azerbaijani forces and the aforementioned settlements had been taken under control by Azerbaijan.

Infrastructure was thereafter rebuilt and the town had electricity and a nearby highway connecting it to Armenia. In 2018, the town's school had 177 schoolchildren.{{cite news |last1=Kucera |first1=Joshua |title=For Armenians, they're not occupied territories – they're the homeland |url=https://eurasianet.org/for-armenians-theyre-not-occupied-territories-theyre-the-homeland |work=Eurasianet |date=6 August 2018 |language=en}}

An OSCE Fact-Finding Mission visited the occupied territories in 2005 to inspect settlement activity in the area and report its findings to the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. According to FFM figures, at that time the number of Armenian settlers in the Kalbajar District was approximately 1,500, of which about 450–500 lived in Kalbajar proper. FFM reported that "housing conditions were basic and no more than 20 to 30 percent of the ruins were reconstructed, usually in a crude and make-shift manner. Some were without glass windows and were only heated by a small wood-burning stove".{{cite news |title=Report of the OSCE Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) to the Occupied Territories of Azerbaijan Surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh (NK) |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/fd/dsca20050413_08/dsca20050413_08en.pdf |access-date=23 April 2021 |agency=OSCE |date=28 February 2005}} According to 2013 local estimates, which the historian and political scientist Laurence Broers considers plausible, the city had some 700 inhabitants at the time while the larger, namesake district had a total of 3,000 inhabitants.{{cite book |last1=Broers |first1=Laurence |title=Armenia and Azerbaijan: Anatomy of a Rivalry |date=2019 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |page=273|isbn=978-1474450522}}

From 2014 to 2020, the city maintained ties with Pico Rivera, California as a friendship city.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pico-rivera.org/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=30286|title=A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PICO RIVERA, CALIFORNIA, RECOGNIZING THE TOWN OF KARVACHAR, REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH AS ITS FIRST FRIENDSHIP CITY}}

As part of an agreement that ended the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, the town and its surrounding district were initially to be returned to Azerbaijani control by 15 November 2020, but this deadline was subsequently extended to 25 November 2020.{{Cite web |date=15 November 2020 |title=Azerbaijan Extends Deadline For Armenia To Withdraw From Key District Under Karabakh Truce |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-to-begin-handing-over-territory-to-azerbaijan-under-terms-of-truce/30950886.html |access-date=2020-11-15 |website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}} The city, along with the district were returned to Azerbaijan on 25 November 2020.{{cite web |date=25 November 2020 |title=Azerbaijani Forces Reclaim Second District From Armenians Under Nagorno-Karabakh Truce |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/azerbaijani-forces-enter-second-district-returned-by-armenia-under-nagorno-karabakh-truce/30967755.html |access-date=25 November 2020 |website=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |language=en |df=dmy-all}}

Following the end of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, Armenian armed forces and civilians began to leave the Kalbajar area on 11 November 2020 in preparation for the handover of the town to Azerbaijani control on 15 November 2020. It was reported that some residents were burning their own homes, schools and forests and were cutting fruit trees and downing power lines prior to the handover.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/14/nagorno-karabakh-villagers-burn-their-homes-ahead-of-peace-deal?CMP=share_btn_tw |title=Nagorno-Karabakh: Villagers burn their homes ahead of peace deal |author= |date=14 November 2020 |website=The Guardian }}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9oIi0WXuvM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/d9oIi0WXuvM |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Nagorno-Karabakh: The families burning down their own homes – BBC News |author= |date=14 November 2020 |website=youtube.com |publisher=BBC }}{{cbignore}}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Rp9X2-JbM&ab_channel=AssociatedPress |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/y_Rp9X2-JbM |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Kalbajar residents burn homes before Azerbaijan handover |author= |date=14 November 2020 |website=youtube.com |publisher=Associated Press }}{{cbignore}} In the days leading up to the return to Azerbaijani control, there was heavy traffic on the road leading into the area as residents rushed to leave while other Armenians rushed to visit the nearby 9th century Dadivank monastery one last time before the border closed.{{cite news |title=Karvachar's Last Day: 'We Stayed Here Until the End,' Artsakh Soldiers Say |url=http://asbarez.com/198738/karvachars-last-day-we-stayed-here-until-the-end-artsakh-soldiers-say/ |access-date=26 November 2020 |work=Asbarez |date=24 November 2020}}

On 16 August 2021, the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev visited the city and hoisted the flag of Azerbaijan in the city.[https://president.az/ru/articles/view/52742 Ильхам Алиев и первая леди Мехрибан Алиева посетили Кяльбаджарский и Лачинский районы] In September of the same year, the building of the military prosecutor's office[https://media.az/politics/1067831957/v-kelbadzhare-i-gubadly-sostoyalos-otkrytie-zdaniy-voennoy-prokuratury/ В Кельбаджаре и Губадлы состоялось открытие зданий военной прокуратуры] and a bakery[https://moderator.az/ru/read/431067/ В Кяльбаджаре состоялось открытие хлебопекарного цеха] were opened in Kalbajar. On 26 June 2022, the foundation of the İstisu mineral water plant was laid in Kalbajar.[https://president.az/ru/articles/view/56544 В Кяльбаджаре заложен фундамент завода минеральной воды «Истису»]

Historical heritage sites in and around the town include a petroglyph, a medieval oil mill, a khachkar from 916, and tombstones from between the 13th and 17th centuries.{{Cite web|url=https://artsakhlib.am/en/2018/06/06/%D5%BF%D5%A5%D5%B2%D5%A5%D5%AF%D5%A1%D5%BF%D5%B8%D6%82-%D5%AC%D5%B2%D5%B0-%D5%BE%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%B9%D5%A1%D5%BF%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%A1%D5%AE%D6%84%D5%A1%D5%B5%D5%AB%D5%B6-%D5%B4%D5%AB%D5%A1%D5%BE%D5%B8/|title=Directory of socio-economic characteristics of NKR administrative-territorial units (2015)|author=Hakob Ghahramanyan}}

Karvachar009.JPG|Children playing football (2010)

Karvachar004.JPG|Street in Kalbajar (2010)

Karvachar002.JPG|Street in Kalbajar (2010)

Caves near Karvachar.jpg|Basalt columns and caves near Kalbajar, locally known as "rock symphony"{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}

Sunflowers in Nor Verishen village.jpg|Sunflowers in the countryside

Gorge of the Tartar.jpg|Dashtak Gorge on the Tartar River, from Kalbajar

Ephedra major shrubs near the gorge.jpg|Dashtak Gorge near Kalbajar

The building of Karvachar's cultural center.jpg|Cultural Center in Kalbajar, under construction

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• {{GEOnet2|32FA88150FAC3774E0440003BA962ED3}}
• [http://world-gazetteer.com/wg.php?x=&men=gcis&lng=en&des=wg&geo=-26&srt=npan&col=abcdefghinoq&msz=1500&pt=c&va=x World Gazetteer: Azerbaijan]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} – World-Gazetteer.com

{{Administrative divisions of Azerbaijan}}

{{Administrative divisions of Artsakh}}

{{Kalbajar Rayon}}

{{Shahumyan Province}}

{{Portal bar|Geography}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Populated places in Kalbajar District

Category:Cities and towns in Azerbaijan